AN appearance at the Horse of the Year Show awaits Rachel Littlewood after her mount survived a life-threatening illness to qualify for the showpiece event.

Former Neston High School student Rachel, 20, has been riding for 12 years but this is the first time she has ever secured a place at the Horse of the Year Show.

Her horse, Golden Hornet, pulled out all the stops for his rider at the Shropshire and West Midlands qualifier to earn passage into the underwood working hunter pony class.

Rachel, of Great Sutton, said: 'It was such a shock to qualify. It has always been my dream but I never thought this was the year because of everything he has been through.

'When we went to the qualifier it was just to get a ride out of him on his way back to full fitness and condition.'

Rachel has had Golden Hornet for five years since purchasing him as an unridden two-year-old. They came through a difficult time last Christmas when the horse contracted strangles, an illness where abscesses form in the neck.

'I had to break him in myself and it was difficult because he is a big horse,' said Rachel. 'But now we have a great understanding, which is why Christmas was particularly difficult for me.

'We almost lost him four times and when he did pull through, he was nowhere near competition condition.

'For him to qualify so soon after that is amazing.'

That wasn't the only reason why Rachel's preparations for her first Horse of the Year Show, which is staged at the NEC in Birmingham, have not gone smoothly.

Her commitments to her radiology studies at Liverpool University have meant she has not been able to spend as much time with Golden Hornet as she would have liked.

Also, while competing at Hick-stead Royal International recently he caught a hoof on one of the cups which hold jumping fences in place and needed stitches - which means they have already lost three weeks of preparation time for the Birmingham event, which takes place from October 3-7.

'It is therapeutic at weekends when I do get back to Hallwood Farm in Ledsham, where he is stabled, to ride him,' said Rachel. 'But at the moment that is not possible. He should be better soon and I, along with my trainers Helen Johnson and Gilly Read, have devised a technical plan for getting ready in the time we have.'